Sick As A Cat
by avatarmerida
Summary: Sequel to my story "Bug With A Bug." The flu is contagious, after all.
Since my little fic "A Bug With A Bug" did so well, I decided to make a little accompany piece to it. Hope you all like it

"Ugh, this is just too unbearable Alya!" moaned Marinette to her friend as they made their way home from school.

"I don't see why you're complaining," commented Alya. "You've already had the flu, the worst is over for you. In fact, I'm pretty sure you're the one who spread the thing."

"Oh yeah? Well if that's true how come you're not sick then?"

"Girl, please. My family is huge, I'm practically immune to germs. No flu would dare try and get close to me."

"Fair enough," said Marinette with a sigh. "At least I have you, but Adrien hasn't been at school all week!"

"I know it's a shame," mocked Alya as she checked her phone. "You might actually pay attention in class."

"Oh ha ha, very funny," said Marinette, rolling her eyes. "But it's not just about not seeing him. When I had the flu, I was miserable. But I at least had my mom and dad to take care of me, I feel like Adrien doesn't really have that."

She failed to mention she also had Chat Noir looking after her, spoon feeding her soup and fluffing her pillows, but she had chalked the whole ordeal up to a fever dream. She hadn't asked Tikki about it and Tikki hadn't brought it up.

Alya's face lightened at her friend's sincerity. "Ah girl, that's too sweet," she said. "Ya know, I bet he'd really love some of your famous homemade chicken soup. Especially with that fancy sweet bread."

"You're right Alya!" said Marinette happily. "I'm gonna go home and get started. You're the best!"

She shot off like a rocket towards her house, utterly determined. Alya couldn't help but laugh. "Save me some of the sweet bread!" she shouted after her. "It was my idea, and you know it's my favorite!"

"Oh Tikki, it's perfect!" mused Marinette as she looked at her finished creation. She had truly outdone herself. In addition to making her famous soup and her mother's signature sweet bread, she had packed the whole thing into personalized basket she had designed herself. She carefully wrapped the food so it would stay warm, and then decorated that packaging as well.

"I gotta say, Marinette, it looks as good as it smells!" chimed in Tikki. "And if it tastes half as good, it'll probably be the best thing he's ever eaten."

She couldn't help but blush. "Oh, no way. I mean he probably eats at super fancy restaurants all the time, I mean this is just something small, I mean-."

"Marinette, stop! He's gonna love it!"

Marinette was undoubtedly a hyperactive mixture of excitement and nerves. Tikki made sure that she signed her name and placed it visibly in the basket so the past would not be repeating itself. She gathered her creation in her arms and prepared to venture towards Adrien's house. She had one foot out the door when suddenly-

"Where's Ladybug?!" cried a panicked citizen as it ran past the bakery, several more following. Marinette managed to stop one to ask what all the fuss was about, apparently a disgruntled city hall employee was wreaking havoc, something about sucking the fun out of everything.

Great. The last thing she needed right now was an akuma attack. Hopefully, Chat Noir was already on the scene and the whole ordeal would be over quickly.

"Plagg I think I'm dying," moaned Adrien from beneath his mountain of blankets.

"That's nice," said the kwami, not really listening. "You know what always makes me feel better?"  
"I swear, if I even smell camembert I'm going to vomit," cringed the dying boy. "It's such a weird word. 'camembert,' it's not spelled like it sounds and it's… it's so smell. It smells bad. The spelling, the smelling, what's up with his cheese?

"Ugh, how dare you,"

"Plagg, what's all that noise outside?"

"Hm, looks like an akuma," said Plagg, heading over to the window

"An akuma matata?" said the disoriented boy. "We have to go. We have to go now. We have to now go, we have to…" against his will, he succumbed to sleep. Plagg sighed and then began hitting him with one of his obnoxiously fluffy pillows.

"Catylcism!" he exclaimed, shooting up. The blankets still covered his whole body. "Omigod, is it night already?"

"Look, obviously you're in no shape to take on anything," began Plagg, freeing Adrien's face from his covers. "How about you just sit this one out, huh?"

"No," he protested. "I can't. I can't let Ladybug do this alone. She might miss me. She fought when she was sick. I can do. I can do it and she won't even know I'm sick!"

"You realize you're on the floor, right?"  
It was true, in his excitant, Adrien had fallen to the floor without even realizing it. "Yes, of course," he lied, calmly. "I am on the floor because we need to floor it and get outside to the akuma place. Nailed it."

"Fine, if you say so," sighed Plagg. "It beats staying here listening to you bad talk camembert."

Ladybug leapt from rooftop to rooftop, planning her next move. She was fairly certain she had identified where the akuma was, but any form of attack she thought up required her partner, and Chat Noir was nowhere to be seen.

"Where are you, kitty?" she murmured to herself. Suddenly, a meatal pole found its way to the ledge of the building she was perched on. She looked across and saw Chat Noir attempting to crawl across, using his pole as a bridge. He clung to the thing for dear life, resembling more a sloth rather than the nimble cat he usually was.

"Don't… worry… my… lady… I'm…" he panted as he painfully and slowly dragged himself across.

"Chat, what are you doing?" she asked, walking over to him as he still attempted to crawl over.

"I… made… it… this… far," he continued, barely able to keep his eyes open. His lady simply shook her head and picked him up by the collar, dragging him to safety.

"Now what is this all about," she began, placing him on the ground. Concerned, she placed her hand on his forehead. "Oh gosh Chat, you're burning up."

A sly smile spread across his face. "My lady, I'm flattered,"

"No Chat, you're sick," she said firmly. "You need to get home."

"No no, team work makes the dream work, my lady," he insisted, raising his finger to her. "And I am wagging my finger to tell you this cat is out of the bag and ready to bag the bad guy, and I am shaking my head to let you know I'm disappointed in your lack of faith."

"You're not doing any of that, you're just lying on the ground."

"I would never lie to you bugaboo," he slurred. "I don't tell you some things, but I would never lie to you."

"So are you going to lay there and tell me you're not sick as dog?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"I… am not. I also take offense to that comment. I am cat. Imagine if I called you a… bird. No, that would work you're like a beautiful canary. I'm sorry. You know me too well. Let's go." He gathered his strength and started rolling. It was slow, but he was headed towards the edge. She stood in front of him, placing her foot on his chest to keep him from killing himself. "Omigod you just saved my life," he gasped.

She merely shook her head and bent down to meet her partner's eyes. "Chat, I know there's no stopping you," she began. "So I'm not going to. We are going to defeat this akuma, but you need to promise me not to overdo it, okay?"  
"When have I overdone anything?"

"I'm not answering that," she continued. "Just let me help you, okay? Now, I'm gonna pick you up and use my yo-yo to take us to the akuma. Let me know if you feel nauseous, okay?"

"Okay," he agreed quietly, staring up at her like she was the sun and moon (which was nothing new). "But, can I just say one thing real quick?"

"Okay, real quick."

"I swear, I'm feline fine."

Defeating the akuma was no easy task, but his sickness actually worked as the perfect distraction, as the akumatized victim was coincidentally a germaphobe. Luckily, they hadn't needed to use catlyclism so his transformation wasn't about to wear off. But Marinette wasn't exactly sure what to do now.

"Okay, Chat," she began carefully, her friend leaning on her for support as the spots on her earrings lessened. "Now, I've had the flu so I know you're a little disoriented right now and frankly I don't have many options so I'm going to take you to a… friend of mine."

"Any friend of yours is a friend of mine," he mused. "But, I don't think I ever asked this, but we're best friend right? Like I'm top 5 right?"

"Anyway," she continued. "She'll take care of you while I… do patrol."

"Well, well, well, look who finally woke up," said Marinette sweetly as Chat Noir began to stir. He slowly opened his eyes and observed his surroundings. He suppressed a chuckle as he saw photos of him occupying the walls.

"Ladybug said you had a pretty rough day," she went on. "So just sit and rest."

"How long have I been out?"

"About an hour or so," she said, as she handed him a bowl. "Here, eat some of this."

He slunk beneath the extra blankets Marinette had placed on him, sticking out his lower lip and widening his eyes at her. "But… I'm so weak."

She exhaled sharply, how could she have expected anything else? "Okay, just sit up," she said as she begrudgingly fed the soup to him.

"Mm, this is delicious," he exclaimed. "Did you make this?"  
"Yeah," she said lightly. "I made it this afternoon."

"For me? That's just too sweet," he said, accepting anther spoonful. "And this presentation is lovely, you really went all out for Paris' most handsome hero."

Of course, she didn't tell him the soup was made for Adrien. She could always make him another pot, if she could muster up the nerve again to actually take it to him.

"Oh my gosh princess, I think this soup has cured me," he gushed. "I mean it, I can feel my sinuses clearing, I can literally feel them leaving my body, it's like my head is floating away."

"Chat I think you're just feeling light headed, you probably just need some more rest," she said. "I'll leave the soup by the bed. I'll be right downstairs, so I brought you this bell to ring if you need me. Do not abuse it."

"Thank you princess," he mumbled, allowing the blankets to consume him. As she cleaned up the area around him, his eyes drifted to the basket she had brought the soup in. To his surprise, there was an envelope. With his name on it. He slyly reached in and opened it, unnoticed by Marinette.

 _Class isn't the same without you, get well soon!_

 _Love_

 _From,_

 _Marinette_


End file.
